Entering into a new business arena is always challenging, as you are competing with established businesses for customers. As a result, you must provide something that no other company in the industry does, since this would give customers a reason to take a risk by trying you out. One way you can generate interest around your business is by offering the lowest prices on certain items. Once consumers hear about your lowest prices, it is sure to generate traffic to your business, which helps you to build a reputation. To offer great deals, however, you must develop a way to compare competitor prices and to make adjustments accordingly.
Visit Competitor Websites
If you choose to compare competitor prices manually, researching their websites is probably the easiest way to go about this. Keep in mind that you will have to visit the website of each direct competitor every day or so, just to make sure that your prices are in line with theirs. This is a time consuming job, but it will provide you with valuable information that will ensure that your business becomes competitive in a hurry.
Hire Someone
Since running your own business is already time consuming, you might want to hire someone to handle this aspect of the job. This leaves you with enough time to run other parts of the business, while still providing you with the same information about your competitors. Of course, the main drawback is the amount of money this will cost you, since it is never cheap to hire a full time staff member. In addition, you will not have this intelligence immediately, since it will take your employee hours each day to visit these sites.
Buy Some Software
Perhaps the best way to compare competitor prices is to purchase some software that will take care of the job for you. This software automatically monitors any websites that you desire and will deliver pricing reports to you daily. This method is much faster than manually visiting every website and saves you money in the long run because you will not have to pay an employee to do the work.